Who knew that homework was still being assigned so many years after
completing school? In preparation to sit on the jury for the 2008 TASA/
TASB Exhibit of School Architecture, I spent about 30 hours studying the
96 entries prior to the meeting in Austin. I combed through all of them
at least four times, all the while keeping in mind the criteria—design,
educational appropriateness, innovation, process of planning, sustainability, and value.
Having designed facilities for multiple school districts, I always kept
in mind how children are likely to experience that particular school and
how that experience will affect their education. I know how challenging
school design can be for an architect who must also focus on form and
function. Among this year’s jurors were three architects. The other two
architect jurors were Lee Burch, AIA, of Jacobs Carter Burgess in Houston;
and Barb von der Heydt, district architect for Fort Worth ISD. I served as
an alternate member. The facilitator was Keith Hickman, AIA, of KAHickman Architects and Interior Designers in Round Rock.
Overall, this year’s entries were exceptional. There were a few
clunkers though, especially with what some architects call innovation.
For example, using recycled materials in a building is not innovative
architecture. That’s responsible architecture. And entering the same
design twice – for schools in two different districts, changing the

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facade only slightly – is not innovation. I find it hard to believe that two
school districts would come up with the same exact programming needs
simultaneously.
Credit is due though to all the firms implementing sustainability into
their designs. With the population booming all across the state, any energy
savings will go a long way.
Even more credit is due to those firms – and to their clients! – that did
their homework to design with children in mind. I give an A+ to Coppell
ISD Superintendent Jeff Turner who believes school design should meet
educational programming needs, thus meeting the needs of the students,
above all else. His attitude was like a breath of fresh air compared to
another member of the jury who favored the cheapest building cost over
all other options.
The opinions expressed by this year’s jurors were indeed diverse. I
arrived in Austin with what I thought was the best of the best, but it’s funny
how educators and architects don’t always see eye to eye. My top 10 didn’t
even make it into the top 20 of the jury’s list. Like most people, school
administrators and school board members see buildings differently than
architects. But because our children’s futures are at stake, it should be up
to us – the architects – to share our knowledge with the people charged
with making many of the critical decisions about the schools we design.
We must inform them so they can ask the right questions, to make sure
that their building is making the grade.
James Kirkpatrick, AIA, is the principal of Kirkpatrick Architecture Studio in Denton.